The Band by Virgin Voyages is a radical new take on what smart technology wearables look-like and act-like in the world of travel and hospitality. It embraces a modern-maritime ethos to deliver smart technology in a sustainable, functional, and stylish wearable. Serving as your payment method, ID, and access card after embarking, it packs wireless technology into an impact-proof and waterproof housing that is ready for all your adventures at sea and ashore. Echoing a commitment to sustainability ship-wide, The Band is designed with a recycled ocean plastic wristband that lives on as a keepsake by removing and recycling the tech module for reuse on future cruises.

As a project lead and sole engineer, I was responsible for the development and delivery of the design from initial concept through to manufacturing. With a committed maiden voyage months away, our team had to move fast, leaning on an agile, iterative approach to rapidly ideate, design, and develop the wearable in under 3 months while considering functional requirements, design constraints, and manufacturing feasibility. Following our successful delivery of the fully manufacturable and user validated design, the product was manufactured in Fall 2019 and Virgin Voyages announced and launched the wearable in February 2020.